The scene was inexpressibly cheerless. No other human creature was
apparent, and the only sounds audible above the wind were those of the
trickling streams which distributed the water over the meadow. A heron
had been standing in one of these rivulets about twenty yards from
the officer, and they vied with each other in stillness till the bird
suddenly rose and flew off to the plantation in which it was his custom
to pass the night with others of his tribe. De Stancy saw the heron
rise, and seemed to imagine the creature's departure without a supper
to be owing to the increasing darkness; but in another minute he became
conscious that the heron had been disturbed by sounds too distant to
reach his own ears at the time. They were nearer now, and there came
along under the hedge a young man known to De Stancy exceedingly well.

'Ah,' he said listlessly, 'you have ventured back.'

'Yes, captain. Why do you walk out here?'

'The bells began ringing because she and he were expected, and my
thoughts naturally dragged me this way. Thank Heaven the battery leaves
Markton in a few days, and then the precious place will know me no
more!'

'I have heard of it.' Turning to where the dim lines of the castle rose
he continued: 'Well, there it stands.'

'And I am not in it.'

'They are not in it yet either.'

'They soon will be.'

'Well--what tune is that you were humming, captain?'

'ALL IS LOST NOW,' replied the captain grimly.

'O no; you have got me, and I am a treasure to any man. I have another
match in my eye for you, and shall get you well settled yet, if you keep
yourself respectable. So thank God, and take courage!'

'Ah, Will--you are a flippant young fool--wise in your own conceit; I
say it to my sorrow! 'Twas your dishonesty spoilt all. That lady would
have been my wife by fair dealing--time was all I required. But base
attacks on a man's character never deserve to win, and if I had once
been certain that you had made them, my course would have been very
different, both towards you and others. But why should I talk to you
about this? If I cared an atom what becomes of you I would take you in
hand severely enough; not caring, I leave you alone, to go to the devil
your own way.'

'Thank you kindly, captain. Well, since you have spoken plainly, I will
do the same. We De Stancys are a worn-out old party--that's the long
and the short of it. We represent conditions of life that have had their
day--especially m